PIOVAN SUPERVISION SOFTWARE FOR THE SMART FACTORY - WINFACTORY 4.0

05/10/2016PETplanet

This is not a new version of the historic Winfactory, which Piovan launched in 2008 as the first remote factory monitoring and control instrument. This new application is supposed to be ready for “Industrie 4.0”, the group of protocols and technologies, being implemented, that constitutes the core of the 4. industrial revolution: the digital manufacturing.

The integration between the production, distribution and information structures of the manufacturing industry is the key Smart Factory concept. Piovan has implemented this with the evolution of its process control and management software based on the “Industrie 4.0” guidelines, creating communication networks with an exchange capacity well ahead of schedule (2020) to allow for connections between the various parts of the technological ecosystem.

Winfactory 4.0 uses OPC-UA (Open Platform Communication - Unifi ed Architecture), the protocol selected by “Industrie 4.0” before issuing the Smart Factory specifications: developed by the OPC Foundation in 2015, it defi nes the communication rules and data exchange between the various entities that make up the system. Thanks to the use of this protocol, Winfactory 4.0 makes it possible to supervise and ensure dialogue between Piovan machines and machines of other manufacturers (OEM). There is no longer the need for an interface that “translates” the data provided by each device into a common format: the information exchange becomes immediate and the various systems can interact independently. A similar communication platform allows access and use of the software on tablets and smartphones. Despite the complexity of the technological challenge that Piovan undertook, Winfactory 4.0 allows the utmost flexibility in managing equipment and processes.